


One

by terra_vae



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Swan Arc, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4865420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terra_vae/pseuds/terra_vae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Everything hurts. Her mouth opens in a silent scream and her body bows in a more and more unnatural way. </p><p>She knows that they don’t have much time. </p><p>Regina is lying on the ground, unconscious. She won’t be able to get them out of this one."</p>
            </blockquote>





	One

Everything hurts. Her mouth opens in a silent scream and her body bows in a more and more unnatural way.

 

She knows that they don’t have much time.

 

Regina is lying on the ground, unconscious. She won’t be able to get them out of this one.

 

The part of her that is desperately trying to find a way out registers the loud bangs on door from the outside but she is also aware that no matter what the two men try the magic that sealed the way in cannot be defeated by mere physical strength.

 

The hairline fractures are evident in her heart. She has seen this done enough times to know that soon the pressure will be enough to turn the already half organ into dust.

 

For now, it’s still beating but she can feel her pulse becoming faster and faster by the second as if the muscle is trying to do the job it should have been able to for the rest of her natural life.

 

She can’t look at it or her torturer any longer so she searches for her husband, hoping to be able to look into his eyes once more before they both leave this world for good but the man is still looking at the figure in front of them.

 

His forehead is drenched in sweat and he is clutching at his chest. He falls down to one knee and for a moment the movement brings up the memory of the time he proposed to her.

 

“Emma, please, stop,” Mary Margaret finds the last of her strength for a plea that she knows won’t do them any good. The sound of the heart’s structure giving in to the strength of her daughter’s palm is reverberating in her chest.

 

She falls completely to the ground the same time her prince does, knowing that she has seconds left to live.

 

David finally looks at her and she can see his love for her burn in his eyes. They both look back to see Neal one more time.

 

He is held by their daughter who is clad in all back, hair white as snow.

 

Emma is showing him what she is doing to them and the boy is looking at the warmly glowing heart that belongs in his father’s chest as if it is an interesting new toy.

 

At least he seems to be safe for now.

 

A lone teardrop runs down on her cheek as she feels Death breathing down on her neck when her eyes close.

 

There is noise around her but her brain can’t process it anymore and then it’s over.

 

*

 

He takes deep breaths but the more he tries to calm himself the more his body hums with nerves and the rocks in his stomach grow. He has no idea what brought this ‘episode’ on. Emma has been good at controlling the Darkness.

 

“You shouldn’t be here, kid.”

 

The way his nickname leaves his mother’s lips is all wrong. It makes him wince and at the same time it urges him to try to stall for time.

 

“What the hell happened? Why are you doing this?”

 

“They were going to send him away, I couldn’t let that happen.”

 

He is only confused for a second until his brain eliminates all other possibilities.

 

“Who? Neal?” Henry asks incredulously.

 

He tones it down a bit, seeing from her reaction that this is reality for Emma, no matter how warped it is.

 

He gulps.

 

“Gramps and Grandma would never…”

 

“They did it to me,” Emma states her fingers twitching around the heart in her hand which is somehow still beating.

 

His focus shift to the glowing object and Henry could swear that it’s less damaged than when he was sent into the loft. He can’t be sure whether it‘s actually slowly healing after all it had to endure or he‘s just wants to see it that way but one thing is certain, if Emma puts just a little more pressure on it there would be nothing more left than the sparkly black dust he read about in his book.

 

“That’s exactly why they wouldn’t do it to him,” he says, tempo a mile a minute. “Not even if they didn’t have a choice. They are not able to, exactly, because of what happened with you.”

 

She doesn’t look convinced and Henry is starting to panic and talk even faster.

 

“Emma… Mom, listen to me. I’ve talked to grandpa Rumple. This, whatever you think it is, it’s not real. He thinks it’s the Darkness trying to make you kill someone you love because it needs that guilt and pain to complete your transition. This is David and Mary Margaret you are about to kill. They love you and you love them.”

 

Finally Emma hesitates and with Neal on her hips it looks almost like she is back to normal – apart from her appearance.

 

She shakes her head.

 

“Please, Mom,” he says and the next second the object from Emma’s hand disappears. He looks at his grandparents but doesn’t see a change. They are both clearly breathing though and it allows him to take a deep breath and then let out a long exhale.

 

“Henry, you are going to have to take Neal from me. Quickly. I don’t have much time,” she says and Henry follows her request without a second thought. Once the boy is safely in his arms and he takes a couple of steps back he questions, “What is happening?”

 

“It’s done playing nice and I can’t hold it back much longer. Henry? Run.”

 

*

 

Her son is frozen in place. She knows she has to stop this before it’s too late. She can feel the magic the Darkness is calling upon. An energy ball quickly forms out of it, but when the Dark One throws it towards Henry, she puffs right into its way.

 

The attack bounces back from the dagger she has in her hand right at Emma who’s pushed back by the power of it a couple of steps.

 

Regina can feel anger radiating of off the woman and she is not entirely sure that some of it isn’t coming from the real Emma.

 

“Go outside, Henry. The door will open now. Get Robin and Hook to take David and Mary Margaret. Go, now and don’t come back in. We will talk later.”

 

“What are you going to do?” Henry asks and she can see that there are bad and worse scenarios swimming in his head.

 

“What needs to be done.”

 

“Mom?”

 

“Henry just go, please.”

 

He does, after making eye contact with Emma once more and saying, “I know you are in there. Fight it, Mom. Please, don’t give up.”

 

He is so much like the both of them.

 

She sighs.

 

This is going to hurt but it needs to be done.

 

The second she is certain the boy is out of the room Regina advances on the other woman. It’s almost like old times except now Emma does walk backwards until her back collides with the wall instead of just having a staring contest.

 

It’s a simple cause and effect of holding the dagger.

 

She can see it in those green eyes that that creature in her friend is waiting for her to break her promise, to give an actual order and with it help the Darkness to chip away more of Emma’s soul.

 

As tempting the control this weapon gives over the Dark One is, it is just as dangerous.

 

She remembered the tales about people who thought they were smart enough to control the Darkness and forced Rumplestiltskin or any of his predecessors to give them what they wanted only to – most of the time – end up dead or worse.

 

Everyone in the Enchanted Forest knew the story of the man who wanted all of the kingdom’s riches and ended up being buried beneath the gold and the jewels or the woman’s who never wanted to grow old and said she wished to stay the same she was at the moment forever and got turned into a marble statue.

 

Her mother used to tell her the one about the man who asked for all his wishes to be fulfilled. So happened there was a magical cave that gave you visions of exactly that and feed off of its victim’s happiness only when it had enough of the good feelings it started to generate nightmares. Poor soul tried to summon Rumplestiltskin but he appeared as part of the visions that drove him to madness quickly. His heart gave out while he had the dagger in his hand.

 

The rules bind the one in possession just as much as they bind the Dark One but the Darkness has years upon years of experience in getting free with deliberately misinterpreting the commands given.

 

Not to mention the words only held strength while one could use the weapon to kill the current vessel.

 

Finding a solution to this madness would have been so much easier if all she had to do was come up with the right command.

 

Her reverie is interrupted by Emma’s taunt.

 

“Are you ready to become what I wanted you to be, what you were meant to be?” she asks after looking pointedly at the piece of metal now pointed towards her chest.

 

Regina takes a deep breath. She can hear that the men behind them are doing what Henry told them to but she can’t trust them to not to try to interfere once they are done and she cannot let them become targets.

 

Her free hand moves and they disappear in cloud of purple smoke.

 

When it’s gone the first thing she sees is the ‘Leaving Storybrooke’ sign at the town line.

 

*

 

“Are you gonna send me away?” she inquires and inside her she can feel the lost girl inside her bristle at the words. Good.

 

“You were trying to make her kill both her parents a couple of minutes ago,” the Queen states seemingly calm.

 

There must be something other up the woman’s sleeve than just forcing her outside of Storybrooke. She just has to play this game better and find a way out before her old apprentice could execute whatever her plan is.

 

Once upon a time this wasn’t a problem but the Queen is different now and the two versions would require different approaches.

 

She needs to break her vessel and this might be just what she needs to do it. A magical, or even better and more the Savior’s style, a physical fight with Regina could give her solution to her Emma Swan problem once and for all.

 

She shrugs nonchalantly starting the game.

 

“You may think that there are a lot of people she loves in this town but there aren’t. It’s not my fault that those two are a package deal since your little heart splitting maneuver. How did it feel by the way; to witness that your despised Snow White gets to keep her true love even when she is the one that has to kill the thing she loves most? It must have hurt like a bitch after what you have done to your poor daddy, after what happened to your stable boy, to your Daniel.”

 

The usage of just the right amount of Emma Swan, and Rumplestiltskin’s knowledge, makes Regina’s hand twitch around the handle of the weapon she is holding.

 

“Come on, do it. You know you want to,” the Dark One gestures towards the dagger.

 

The fight inside the Queen is blatantly clear, now only the darker side has to win like it did so many times before. She is betting on old Regina.

 

“You have a choice, Emma. You can expel the Darkness out by yourself. ”

 

Well, she lost that one and this is a dangerous territory.

 

“Yes, it is a possibility but no one has ever been able to do it.”

 

“Then why didn’t you want her to find out about this? You are in her, you know what she can do.”

 

The Queen has the authenticity to laugh and she could feel her host’s will strengthening.

 

“I believe in you, Emma.”

 

Regina throws her weapon over the town line. It clatters on the ground and the name disappears from it the same time the Queen says, “Kick her ass.”

 

She wants to attack but something inexplicable starts to happen and she can’t tell what, or even if it’s because the dagger is in a world without magic while she is still inside Storybrooke but something changes, something shifts.

 

*

 

She looks down on herself and sees blonde hair, red leather jacket, jeans and a grey shirt. She takes a quick self-inventory and can hardly believe that she is in control of her body, that she can no longer feel someone else’s presence in her head.

 

She makes eye contact with Regina, asking for some sort of explanation with a look when she hears her own voice that is definitely not coming from her mouth.

 

“Oh, my…” the Dark One says and as Emma turns she sees that there is a woman looking exactly like she did a few seconds ago standing next to her.

 

The version of her clad in black moves so that they stand in front of each other and she examines her as if Emma is some sort of exhibit at a museum.

 

“If I had only known that this was possible. Thousands of years and no one was able to. This is… This could be my opportunity to…”

 

Emma doesn’t feel like listening to one more word of the monster so she hits the Dark One in the face as hard as she can.

 

Her target stumbles and almost falls down.

 

“You have to kill her, Emma but she didn’t lie. No one has done this before. There is no way to know what happens to you if you succeed.”

 

“I got this, Regina and I am going to enjoy it,” Emma states after one more punch to the nose but then the Dark One manages to avoid her fist and delivers a blow straight to her kidney and then to her jaw.

 

She goes for trying to wrestle the other her but physically they have the same strength so it doesn’t really go anywhere until she is thrown off of the Dark One with magic.

 

Suddenly the fight becomes really uneven.

 

Emma gets blow after blow, magical attack after magical attack and she knows she is no match for the Dark One in a fight like this but she gets back up even when her face is all bloodied and she is limping.

 

“Are you suicidal? Didn’t you hear? Killing me could kill you? Are you really ready to leave your parents, your brother, Regina here, and Henry?”

 

“If it means I’ll be rid of you I am.”

 

“I know you liked being us. I could feel it beneath all that good, the stirring of the darkness that was meant to be.”

 

“Shut your mouth.”

 

The Dark One scoffs.

 

“You celebrated when we found Hook in bed with Ruby. The idea to create that potion that allowed Robin Hood to act on his desire towards Zelena came from your subconscious.”

 

Emma gulps.

 

“Talking about your subconscious, my favorite thing was your little, deeply hidden fantasies about her. You controlled your lust so well but I still found it. The one where we shapeshifted into her soulmate and went to her was especially inspired in my opinion. You shivered just from thinking about it. She, doing all the work on top of you until you both reached completion.”

 

“Shut the hell up!” Emma screams with anger and a burst of dark magic knocks her adversary to the ground and she goes after her. They roll around on the ground until the woman in black clothes reaches inside her chest and pulls.

 

Failing at removing the muscle gives Emma enough time to go for her adversary’s neck. She starts to choke the Dark One and she doesn’t let up until there is no more life in that other body.

 

It disappears shortly after taking its last breath.

 

“EMMA!” Regina screams as she runs to her.

 

The Queen touches her bruised and battered face and as much as it feels good for her soul, her body protests.

 

“Wait,” the Mayor asks and in a couple of seconds some of her pain disappears.

 

“I am sorry I can’t heal more but injuries caused by magic are harder to deal with. You will be fine though which I really don’t understand. You were still connected. Merlin said… You should’ve… Why aren’t you dead?” Regina asks completely earnestly.

 

“Are you seriously complaining why I am alive?” Emma counters half laughing, half crying and wincing from the pain the movements still cause.

 

Regina follows suit, then says “I am really not, Emma, I am so glad that you are okay,” in such an affectionate way that she can’t help but move in to hug her friend before tears starts to fall.

 

“I can’t believe you did it,” Regina says into her hair.

 

“We did it,” Emma corrects her and the exhale that comes with the sentence send goose bumps down Regina’s neck.

 

She shivers and just holds onto Emma stronger trying really hard not to think about what the Darkness said.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of two Emmas fighting each other came from Superman III. You know the scene, Drunk Superman beats the crap out of Clark but then Clark chockes him, opens his shirt and flies away to fix the oil spil.


End file.
